Construction is steeped in tradition. Tendencies, practices and the even the use of different nomenclature can range from region to region. I was at a national meeting when I heard the term clapboard siding being thrown around by my friends from New England. Out west, we simply call it lap siding. In America, we call metal furring hat Z channels, in Canada they are called Zed girts, and in Australia the term is top hats. In Europe, metal furring is referred to as profiles. This makes it interesting as the world is getting smaller and we are handed product literature that has what seem as are funny terms. The predominant difference between North America and much of other parts of the world is they predominantly use masonry more than framing.
One reason for the United States’ reliance on framing is simple tradition. Our history of framed walls goes back over two centuries. When the first Europeans came to America, many of the craftsmen were likely skilled masons but a lack of quarries and expense made stone work almost impossible. What the new world did have was an abundance of trees. These were ideally suited for furniture making but they also found the wood made suitable walls, as well.